


48 Hours

by Moveduser123



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Death, M/M, Major Character Injury, Not Beta Read, Sadstuck, Unrequited Love, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombiestuck, never going to finish this sorry, the thing where only half of a ship remains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:10:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moveduser123/pseuds/Moveduser123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone is thrown into the apocalyptic world of zombies. John Egbert finds himself alone, but soon discovers that this is not the case. He is reunited with his friend, Karkat Vantas, however  this blissful meet-up doesn't last long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written years ago when I was dumb I'm just throwing this here

It all started so suddenly, just out of the blue. Some kind of illness, a virus. No on knew what it was, but it didn't matter anymore. Now the world has gone to shit. Actually, there was no 'world' anymore. The undead infection, or, 'apocalypse' had taken over, and there were few known survivors left lurking the streets. Karkat Vantas was one of these people. He was running. Just hoping he wouldn't run into yet another group of those /things/. He mistook a soft sound of paper scraping against the ground as a sign of life, but quickly realized that he was, in fact, the only survivor around. Turning a corner, he brought out his gun praying he wouldn't run into a group of infected with the amount of ammunition he had left. There was nothing. So far, he hasn't seen anything. No dead. No survivors. Not even animals. With an almost silent sigh if relief and disappointment, he continued down the alleyway, his head hanging down. 

John wandered down the empty streets, jumping at every little gust of wind and every movement of the shadows around him. Where the fuck was everybody?? Where's the help they said they would send? He had looked through every building, every corner, and every alleyway of this damn city, and so far, has found nothing. Just a crackle of a radio, or the ring of a telephone would be enough. He wanted to know if there was /someone/ out there besides him. He walked quietly along the trash riddled pavement, adjusting the bag on his back so it rested mostly on his left shoulder. His breath and his footsteps seemed too loud in his ears 'tap, tap, tap, tap' he looked left and right, hoping to finally see /something/. And he did.  
"Karkat? Karkat is-is that you?' He called as he saw a familiar figure approaching him. Yes, that had to be him. John would recognize that slouch and scowl anywhere. Even underneath the padded clothes and helmet he wore. It had to be him.  
"Karkat!"

As soon as his name reached his ears, Karkat raised his gun in the direction of the sound. And holy fuck he was not expecting to see the face he saw. He let out a sigh, but kept the gun raised.  
"Are you bitten?" He immediately asked. 

John drops his weapon when Karkat points his at him. Raising his arms above his head to show that he wasn't a threat, he answered,  
"No, actually, I haven't really encountered them too much. Only on a few, er, occasions have I seen them. Have-have you seen anyone else here? I've been looking for ages, but I haven't found anyone!"  
If Karkat was alive then there was bound to be others, right? 

Karkat didn't lower his gun. He knew it was John, and by the way he was acting, he was perfectly fine health wise but absolutely terrified mentally. He let out another sigh before lowering the gun and removing the helmet he was wearing, letting his slightly overgrown hair fall on to his shoulders.  
"Jesus, don't scare me like that. And no, I haven't seen anyone for months. Just you and me. Unless your hiding someone somewhere." he flashed a grin toward John, hoping to lighten the mood. 

John's hopeful expression falls and he brings his arms down.  
"So uh, no one? No Dave, no Rose? Just us?" His eyes look down to the ground.  
"C-Come on, there-there has to be some out there, right?" he falls onto his knees and brings his hands up to cover his eyes.  
"Someone has to be looking for us, they said that they'll look for survivors, they said-they said-!" he inhales sharply and lets out a shaky breath while trying to blink back tears.  
"They said they wouldn't leave us here. They wouldn't do that, right?"

Karkat's eyes narrowed at the boy, and he walked over to him with a scowl on his face. He raised a hand over his head, and brought it down on John's cheek with a resounding 'smack'.  
"Pull yourself to-fucking-gether! This isn't the time or place to be crying like a fucking baby! If people like /me/ can stay alive then there's bound to be others! If we can stay alive long enough, help will come! I haven't seen Jade or Dave yet but I sure as hell know that we will see them!"  
He growled softly before putting the helmet back on his head.  
"So stop crying like a baby and let's get going."

John's hand cupped his cheek as he stared slack jawed at Karkat's departing figure.  
"I-I... Fuck, I- fuck just, sorry I- fuck. Yeah, you're right."  
He slowly rises to his feet, and wipes his eyes. He adjusts his blood stained sweatshirt and follows Karkat.  
"So where to?"

Karkat threw the strap of his rifle over his shoulder before turning to John. "We will make it. I promise. Nothing can bring us down. Not now, not ever. Okay?"  
He put his hands on his friends shoulders, pulling him close for a hug.  
"Everything will be okay." He knew it wasn't true, but he at least wanted to try and make John feel better for the moment. It was better than telling him they probably wouldn't make it. He didn't want to say that to anyone. Karkat wanted to give him hope than to tear apart what was left. He patted John's back lightly before pulling away.  
"First thing's first, we have to find a shelter for the night. It's getting late, and I'd rather not be eaten alive. Who knows what the fuck could attack us."

"Yeah, do you have a place in mind?"

Karkat looked at John before exiting the alleyway.  
"I was thinking of going to an old department store and sheltering there. It's got no biters there, beds, and food thats still good. I was there yesterday."  
He said as he scouted the area, his gun pointed at eye level.

"Alright, we'll go there."  
John followed Karkat closely, his eyes darting left and right, and his arms hugging his gun close to his chest.  
"You... You look like you really know what you're doing uhm... Am I... Am I dragging you down?"

Karkat stopped in his tracks and looked back at John.  
"Are you fucking kidding me? I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm surprised I haven't gotten myself killed with how reckless I am. You are NOT dragging me down. If anything you're making me feel a lot better about this whole apocalypse thing."  
He poked John with the end of his gun before proceeding forward once more toward the back of a department store.

Karkat used his weight to pull the door open with an echoey 'creeeaaaak'. He put his gun in the opening to keep it from closing on them.  
"Get in before something happens."

John rushes inside and takes off his backpack, laying it on the floor, along with his shotgun.  
"We can pack some stuff for the road tomorrow, but for now I suggest we store up our energy."  
He takes a packet of food off a shelf and tosses it to Karkat, who snatches it out of the air easily and shuts the door.  
"Yeah, we'll need as much energy as we can muster for tomorrow."  
He takes off his jacket and helmet and opens the packet, popping a piece of its contents into his mouth and gnawing on the the chewy substance.

John pulled his sweatshirt over his head, and then his tanktop, revealing a layer of poorly wrapped bandages around his torso. He peels them off with a small hiss of pain, uncovering a large wound winding around him from his right shoulder blade, to his left hip before getting a roll of gauze from his bag an handing it to Karkat.  
"Mind helping me out with this?"

Karkat stares at his wound with worry and shock before reaching for the gauze.  
"What happened?" he asked, taking the roll from his hand and getting a packet of cream from a shelf. He smothered the wound in it and began to tightly wrap it up. John hisses through his teeth when Karkat's calloused fingers touch his cut but bears through it, nodding at the other boy's mumbled apologies.  
"Let's just say, don't jump off high places." He chuckles softly, but the smile soon fades. He feels the bandages tighten and the warmth of Karkat's hands leave him. John quickly stands and slips his shirt back on.  
"It was a stupid mistake, and I learned my lesson."

Karkat takes a deep breath, holding it for a second before letting it out slowly. He stepped up behind the boy, and loosely wrapped his arms around his waist in an awkward, backwards hug.  
"You need to be more careful. You're gonna get yourself killed."  
He nuzzled his neck before moving to John's front and placing a kiss to his forehead. He let out a long sigh, and walked calmly to the back of the store, leaving John dumbfounded, with his jaw slack. As soon as he noticed how utterly stupid he looked, his jaw snapped back into place and he followed Karkat.  
They entered an even darker room, the only light being the light from the setting sun, trickling in behind them.  
Karkat pulled the door wider, using his weight to keep it open enough for John to walk in. The specks of light revealed several metal beds with torn mattresses and dust cloaked blankets.  
Karkat lets the door fall closed with a loud 'Click'. Amber light snuck itself in through the gap at the top and the bottom of the door.  
John tossed himself onto one of the beds, causing dust to fly up around him. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than sleeping out on the streets next to a garbage can surrounded by corpses. He let out a breath, letting his worries about never finding someone slip away as his eyes shut, and his breathing slowed

 

{|Time Skip|}

 

Karkat's whole body ached, it burned, it stung.  
His hair clung to the sides of his face, sweat dripping off his forehead. He stumbled around the dark room frantically, bumping into almost every object, and only barely keeping himself quiet enough so he would wake John. Rough coughs push their way through his lips, and only continued to get rougher with each straining step.

John slowly roused from his sleep, when he hears the violent coughs and loud echoing clangs.  
"Karkat? Karkat, are you okay?" He asks in a small voice just above a whisper, and he sits up on his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Karkat holds onto a shelf to keep himself up, his arms trembling as he coughs up a small amount of blood.  
"Fuck.." He mutters as he quickly gets to his bag, digging through it and pulling things out. Another wave of coughs rack his body.  
"Where is it? Fuck, where is it!?"

After hearing Karkat's voice he stumbles out of bed, legs getting tangled in the thin sheets in his clumsiness. After successfully hitting his legs on almost everything in the room, he made it out and to the other.  
"Karkat?! Karkat, are you okay? Karkat, what's wrong?! What do you need?!" He called frantically

"No no no no no.. FUCK!!" He yelled out loudly, throwing his bag against the wall with a loud thud. Karkat fell to his knees, coughing up more blood. "John... Go back to bed.. I'm fine.."

His eyes widen ad he takes a step back upon reflex.  
"Youre obviously not okay! What happened? What do you need? I could get it for you!" He kneels down beside Karkat and puts a hand on his shoulder "Just tell me what you need! Tell me what's wrong! What's happening?!"

Karkat collapsed on the floor, hugging his legs to his chest, shaking violently.  
"Fuck.. L-Little blue box.. Says 'Z-serum' on the side.. It has a needle and a little glass bottle of green liquid in it-" coughs erupted from his throat, interrupting him.  
"F..fuck..."

"Alright uhm, uh...' He quickly finds the blue box next to Karkat's discarded bag, and takes out the needle, filling it with the green liquid. He kneels beside Karkat and holds his arm. He glances at him for a moment and then presses the point of the needle into his arm quickly, injecting it into his body. He pulls it out quickly and puts the items on the floor to hold his face in his hands.

Karkat lays there, weak and trembling on the cold, hard floor.  
"Fuck.. Thank you, John... Now go back to bed..."

"No. Not until you tell me what the hell /that/" he gestures to Karkat "was. And what is that green thing? What if you run out? What happened?" He forces Karkat's head to look him in the eyes.  
"What. Was. That?"

He pulled himself into a more comfortable sitting position with a sigh.  
"I'm infected. I'm sick. Dying. If I don't have that every 48 hours I WILL die. And I will turn into one of them. And I will hurt you." He looked down, not willing to see the look of hurt and betrayal he knew was on John's face.

He stays completely silent, processing the new information.  
"Th-Theres a way to undo all this though, right? We- We can get through this, right? You won't turn, you can't turn! You-you can't leave me here alone! There has to be a way to get more of this green stuff to stall your turning 'till we find a cure. Y-yeah, we'll be okay. Right? We-we'll get out of here together!" He's yelling, trying to convince himself these things rather than Karkat. He leans over and hugs the other tightly tears escaping his eyes. "We'll be okay, yeah? We're gonna be okay! We'll get through this!"

Karkat hugged him back gently rubbing the other's back comfortingly.  
"You see theres a bit of an issue with that.." He buries his face into Johns shoulder, taking a deep breath.  
"That was my last needle.. The last bit of the serum I had. And I haven't come across any for the last two months. I'm all out and if we dont find some within the next two days I..."

No. No no no no no...

This can't be happening.

No...

 

 

Your name is John Egbert, and you have exactly 48 hours to save your best friend.


	2. Dead Plus One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just kinda combined these two because they were both really short

"K-Karkat? Are you d-doing okay there?"  
John stalked toward the figure huddling against a wall of a dimly lit hallway cautiously, measuring his shaking, light steps.  
"Hey, what's wrong? Karkat? Karkat, answer me!"  
He grabbed at the troll's shoulder, only to have Karkat's own grey appendage slap his hand away almost violently.  
"Don't touch me!"  
Karkat's voice rang out, echoing too loudly against the flat concrete walls of the seemingly endless hallway. John visibly flinched, bringing his hand back and holding it against his chest. Karkat brought his legs up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them tightly, hoping that if he held on tight enough, he would be safe. That he would be fine.  
"Don't you dare fucking touch me, you have to get the hell out of here right the now, Egbert!"  
"What are you talking about?!" John raised his voice to match Karkat's.  
"You're perfectly fine, you'll be fine!" He insisted, not wanting to believe the inevitable truth he knew was coming.  
"No. No, no, no! I'm not! You're not! Get out of here!" Karkat tore his hands away from his legs, ripping apart his makeshift shelter to shove at John, forcing him backwards.  
"You can't be here! What part of 'get out' does your fried human thinkpan not understand?" He hunched over, coughing violently. Droplets of blood dripped from his grey lips, dotting the floor with the unnaturally red liquid.  
Karkat's pleas grew more and more desperate as he felt his mind fall apart, his grip on reality loosing, his vision going dark.  
John stood completely still, no longer out of determination, but our of fear. His body trembled like a small earthquake was making it's way through him, his heart beat like the wings of a caged bird. Mouth dry, and eyes wide, John stood petrified next to his friend, who's coughs began to slow.  
"K.... Karkat?" He croaked out, his tongue darting out to wet his chapped lips.  
The mutant was still, statue-like, unmoving.  
Then, there was movement.  
His head rose up to look at the human, his eyes that once shown like rubies now dull, and empty.  
Out of nowhere, the troll lunged forward gripping on to John's shoulders, feral nails digging into his soft flesh.  
John let a loud, agonized scream spill from his mouth as pain exploded through his shoulders.  
Karkat leaned forward, shark-like teeth catching on to the boy's neck, and pulling back hard ripping the flesh from his body apathetically.

Oh god no  
Please no  
This can't be happening

This wasn't supposed to happen

Your name is John Egbert, and you have been killed by your friend, Karkat Vantas

 

☆☆☆

 

John woke with a start, sweat dripping from his forhead, his breath coming out in short staccato quips. A soft symphony of taps brought his attention to the window. Small diamonds fell from the sky, launching themselves down to the earth to shatter into a million pieces, joining the miniature sea of crystals forming on the grey streets. Lines of rainwater dripped down the windows, leaving behind a distorted image of the still vacant, still dead streets. A small movement from his right notified him of a certain troll that made a rather gruesome appearance in his most recent dream.

With a sigh of relief, he untangled himself from the warm heap of flesh attached to him, and got up, stretching his cramped limbs, popping his bones back into place. John looked back at the sleeping troll who had curled around himself in his absence. With a soft smile, John picked up his shirt and bag, which hung limply off the shelf, and exited the department store.

Dave's feet slammed against the small rocks that made up the path to the next town. Two thin swords bounced against his back with each heavy step. The young Strider sighed, uncovered eyes bloodshot and weary. There was no way he would be able to survive another day in this condition.  
With the town now in view, Dave sped up his pace, sore legs burning, begging for him to rest.  
But he couldn't rest.  
If he rested he would be found.  
He would be caught.  
He would be killed.

Thunder rumbled overhead as dark, menacing clouds rolled across the sky threateningly. Flashes of bright white light flickered on the gloomy screen above.

Someone had to be at the town, right? And if not, there had to be food, water, or maybe even a means of communication.  
Hell, there would at least be a map he could get.

Maybe he would even find... No, that idiot would never survive in this hellhole, what was he thinking. He couldn't have lasted long in a place like this. He's dead, nonexistent, gone--

Dave rose his bandaged arm to his face, rubbing away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes, leaving smeared red marks in its wake.

He should stop thinking about those things.

He was Dave fucking Strider  
He didn't cry when his half sister died  
He didn't cry when his oldest brother, his guardian, died  
He didn't cry when his twin brother, Dirk, went missing  
He is not going to cry over the mere chance that his last friend might be--

Fuck.

It's going to be just like the movies, right?  
He doesn't look like the one who's going to live to the end; everyone assumes he's going to die first, right?  
But the audience is proven wrong when he ends up as the lone survivor... Right?

_'But then what will happen to me?'_

Dave shook the thought out of his head.  
He was selfish.  
He wanted to live.  
But he also wanted that dork to live.  
Selfish, selfish idiot.

Dave's footsteps stood out from the soft taps of the rain around him, an echoing 'splash' resounding in synch to his heavy footsteps.

It sounded out of place; this town should sound as deserted as it looked.

Then another sound echoed off the brick walls an cement floor.  
It wasn't Dave's footsteps.  
They were slower.  
Quieter  
Uneven  
And only a couple feet away, even though the source remained unseen. 

Dave slowed his steps, lowering each foot down slowly, soft steps replacing the stomps that came before.

He shook his palms damp with sweat as his heart began to pump erratically, pulsing in his ears.  
Was his breathing always that heavy?  
Unease began to worm it's way into his body, making him hyperaware of every little detail around him.  
Every little raindrop that fell from the melancholy sky  
Every little whisper the wind breathed into his ears  
He drew his sword from its sheath slung across his back; the usually comforting ring now held no such affect.  
It was as cold, and unwelcoming as the blade itself.  
He moved his elbow behind him, dragging the sword with it, and repositioned himself so most of his weight rested on his left foot. Taking deep breaths, he prepared to strike once he caught a glimpse of movement.

Nothing...

Nothing...

There!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More chapters will probably never be written because this is where I stopped several years ago.  
> You may critique, but this was my sixth grade writing style, so chances are my writing's improved since I was 12, and what you may offer may not really affect me ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Author's Note:**

> My first HS fanfic that I wrote a couple years ago and never finished. I have not reread this, instead just copying and pasting this from my wattpad to have more connection between my accounts.


End file.
